"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

THIS MORNING I MENTIONED THAT GAIL COLLINS STILL HADN’T CORRECTED HER COLUMN. Now it bears this update:

An earlier version of this column incorrectly stated that teacher layoffs in Milwaukee in 2010 happened because Gov. Scott Walker “cut state aid to education.” The layoffs were made by the city’s school system because of a budget shortfall, before Mr. Walker took office in 2011.

So basically, it’s now an Emily Litella column. Never mind! I’d love it if Greg Gutfeld or someone would do a Gail Collins as Emily Litella skit with this. . . .

What was the title of the column, though?

Scott Walker Needs an Eraser

If I were Governor Walker, I’d do a fundraiser selling commemorative Nebbishes Yearning for Truth (NYT) erasers. You could no more make this stuff up than you could shame the NYT into journalistic integrity. But he might as well turn their sloppiness into some campaign cash against the day Her Majesty and JEBush get around to making their aristocratic decrees about why you peasants should elect them in lieu of Walker.

You were expecting journalistic integrity from the NYT? Well, bless your heart.

Steve Skubinna

This is really a Dog Bites Man story. These people are wrong all the time, about the big stuff and about the little details. Remember this comes on the heels of the NYT scolding some Mr. Scott, who apparently is the actual governor of Wisconsin.

While it’s amusing to watch not very bright people pretend to be smart and educated, it gets very tiresome when it’s the same people again and again, and further aggravating when these people are responsible for shoving the sh!t sandwich of progressivism at America over and over with no acknowledgement that, however tasty the artisan multigrain bread is, it’s still sh!t. And overpriced sh!t at that.

http://www.journal14.com/ Dana

Trouble is, those lies have to be exposed. Thirty years ago, there was no internet — Al Gore hadn’t invented it yet — and these things didn’t get exposed, and lots of times never got found, because people had to go to the library and pour through the printed material to find the contrary data; that might explain a lot of why this country drifted to the left for so many years.

Well, no we can find it, and quickly, and, lo and behold, it seems that The New York Times isn’t infallible, The New York Times actually gets things wrong. The obvious question is: how much inaccurate information, how many outright lies, were printed in the Grey Lady before we had internet fact-checking?

Steve Skubinna

This group probably has seen this already, but it is something that I first noted many years ago but did not articulate so clearly as Michael Crichton did:

These coastal elites are not smarter than we are and they are demonstrably no better or more ethical or more capable. And we need to keep reminding ourselves of that and taking them down.

Matt_SE

I think it’s almost a done deal that Walker will be our nominee. Further, I think it’s 75% likely he’ll defeat Hillary. I support him because he’s *good enough.*
But I love the fact that lefties’ only line of attack has been aimed at his lack of educational credentials, and that very line is now being turned into a plus.

Matt_SE

This is why there are so many bullshitters in forums, especially the quick-moving forums like on Politico. I’ve seen the phenomenon myself:

Somebody says something wrong, totaling one or two sentences. I need to write one paragraph per sentence to PROVE them wrong (with appropriate links to back it up).

In the end, it’s either not worth my time, the response is too long for anyone to read, or the forum has already scrolled 100 responses ahead so nobody will see the response.

It’s maddening.

P.S. The one bright side is that it makes you improve your game. On Politico, I rarely ever post anything over one paragraph now.

Actual experience trumps ineffectual, academic training. Or as the old adage goes, Those who can, do; Those who can’t, teach. And there’s probably a corollary about those who leave academia to try and do, but can’t.

Sort-Of-Mad Max

“Remember, when using Viagra or any other ED drug, consult your doctor if suffering an erection lasting more than 4 hours. Or google Gail Collin’s picture. One or the other is guaranteed to solve your problem!”

“… how much inaccurate information, how many outright lies, were printed in the Grey Lady before we had internet fact-checking?”

I’m just guessing here but I imagine they were enough to fill a library or two with.

Art Deco

Easy fat cat money closed the deal for John Connolly in 1980.

http://boogieforward.us/ K-Bob

Something about Texas…

richard mcenroe

Sorry to be petty, but it’s “pore” not “pour”. It is socially acceptable these days to blame that on Spellcheck, if you feel the need.

http://europa-antiqua-arca.blogspot.com/ arcadius

Deliberate wouldn’t surprise me. Most people reading the article saw the initial, uncorrected version. Most of them won’t see the correction. But if you call out the Times on it, they can save face by pointing out the correction.

http://europa-antiqua-arca.blogspot.com/ arcadius

I think most people at the Times are pretty intelligent and know exactly how far they can distort things without getting caught, and publish things like this on purpose. Maybe I’m too cynical?

http://evilbloggerlady.blogspot.com/ Evi L. Bloggerlady

That joke was done before Clinton was President.

http://ak4mc.us/ McGehee

<bzzzzt!>

I’m sorry, the answer we were looking for is, “All of them.”

Adobe_Walls

And yet they’re caught often, sometimes months or years later.

http://europa-antiqua-arca.blogspot.com/ arcadius

It doesn’t matter to them if it’s corrected months later. Most people will never see the correction, and the damage was done. By “caught” I meant discredited in the eyes of their readers, not proven wrong after the fact.

Adobe_Walls

MSNBC does this all the time. They report something they know isn’t true and then make a little noted correction. Meanwhile the lie has been spread by lefty webzines and blogs who never post the correction. A year and a half from now the uncorrected version of that story will be quoted time after time by the Democrats and their media if Walker is the nominee.

Quartermaster

I like Politico. Just telling the truth is trolling over there.

http://www.journal14.com/ Dana

I denounce myself.

Julie Pascal

Really? I thought that “pore” was a hole in something. Pores in your skin. Pores in rock layers.

But they do spread premium Mayo and Grey Poupon Mustard on it to make the shit more palatable.

theoldsargesays

Another reason that like this place so much- learn something new every day. (That of course is a tribute to a better class of commenters here than anywhere else.)

theoldsargesays

Whoa, wait just a cotton pickin’ minute!

According to the likes of Rachel Maddow, Ed Schultz and Lawrence O’Donnell there were no WMDs in Iraq and former President Bush lied to us about them because….well he just enjoyed going to war.
Now the NYT is running a story proving that WMDs did exist in Iraq after all?
I reckon I’d better watch MSNBC tonight because I’m sure that those top notch “journalists” are all going to apologize to Mr. Bush on air this evening.

SHOCKING!!!

DeadMessenger

I know…it was like a prophecy. =)

http://www.facebook.com/mcmasotti Matthew C. Masotti

MSNBC…indeed…good luck with that! Today’s NYT article actually says “the government kept much of this information secret” when President Bush told the whole world! It seems that the NYT will work its “sources” to validate every statement by a GOP President, but for a Democrat, well…you know the rest of the story…

theoldsargesays

The condiment choices of white privilege no doubt.

Quartermaster

No doubt at all.

Quartermaster

That’s pretty lame. You’d better get some continuing education to maintain your master denunciator credentials and pick up the slack.

Rick Caird

The other side is I am certain you get a number of “professional posters” (like from the DNC) who will overwhelm us with long posts that come faster than we can respond. I responded to one long post, paragraph by paragraph, and when I posted, the same guy had posted 5 even longer responses, plus another guy came in with very similar claims with another very long post repeating the same errors. It is almost a cut and paste. Both were anonymous.

The whole idea, it seems to me, is to overwhelm any contrary opinions, not with arguments, but with volume.

The WaPo stories get a huge number of short posts that say very little, but seem to be designed to scroll the conservative responses way down the chain so no one can see them.